A placeholder can be made for ''#modify'' with ''IEclipseContext#declareModifiable()'' or a ''<variable>'' declaration in an ''Application.e4xmi''.

A placeholder can be made for ''#modify'' with ''IEclipseContext#declareModifiable()'' or a ''<variable>'' declaration in an ''Application.e4xmi''.

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== Commands and Handlers ==

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=== Why is my parameterized handler not triggered? ===

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When binding a command to a UI element (e.g., an ''MHandledToolItem'' or ''MHandledMenuItem''), the binding must provide a parameter for each of the parameters defined by the command. The attribute names used (as of 4.2M3) for establishing a correspondance between command parameters and handler arguments can lead to some confusion.

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The parameters to a command are specified as instances of ''MCommandParameter''. The identifier for each parameter, used for matching, is taken from the ''elementId'' attribute. The ''name'' attribute is a descriptive label for the parameter.

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The confusion arises as each ''binding'' parameter (an instance of ''MParameter'') also have an ''elementId'', but it is the ''name'' attribute that is used for matching against the command parameters. The binding parameter's ''elementId'' merely serves to identify that parameter instance within the model.

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For example, consider defining a command to perform a CSS theme switch, where the theme identifier is provided as a command parameter ''themeId''. We might configure the command (programmatically) as follows:

Dependency Injection & Contexts

What services are available for injection?

How can I override a provided object?

FIXME For example, to provide an alternative StatusReporter or Logger

How do I provide singleton objects?

Typical E4AP applications have a single injector, accessible through org.eclipse.e4.core.di.InjectorFactory#getDefault(). Within this injector, any class or interface annotated with the javax.inject.Singleton will be treated as a singleton instance.

Another approach is to use a IContextFunction that checks and sets a value in the top context.

FIXME: Can the injector also be configured to bind @Singleton to a particular class?

Why am I getting a new instance of an object?

The injector attempts to resolve objects in the context. If they are not found in the context, but the class exists, then the injector will instantiate and return a new instance providing that its injectable dependencies can be resolved.

Why is my widget/part not displaying? Why am I getting a new Shell?

The fix is to annotate the use with "@Named(ACTIVE_SHELL)".

Why am I being injected with null?

Typically null values are only injected when an argument or field is marked as @Optional. But a null value will be injected if the value has previously been explicitly set to null in the context.

The context obtained using EclipseContextFactory.getServiceContext(bundleContext) is completely dissociated from the context created for an application in E4Application. If you want to populate a context such that a part can be injected, you either need to use an addon or an IContextFunction.

What is the difference between IEclipseContext#set and IEclipseContext#modify?

publicclass MyPart {
@Inject IEclipseContext context;
...
privatevoid repositoryChanged(IRepository repository){// set the variable "repository" in this part's context: the value is only visible to// this part and any children
context.set("repository", repository);// search up the context stack to see if the variable exists in one of the the context's // ancestors; otherwise it does a set in the specified context
context.modify("repository", repository);}
...
}

A placeholder can be made for #modify with IEclipseContext#declareModifiable() or a <variable> declaration in an Application.e4xmi.

Commands and Handlers

Why is my parameterized handler not triggered?

When binding a command to a UI element (e.g., an MHandledToolItem or MHandledMenuItem), the binding must provide a parameter for each of the parameters defined by the command. The attribute names used (as of 4.2M3) for establishing a correspondance between command parameters and handler arguments can lead to some confusion.

The parameters to a command are specified as instances of MCommandParameter. The identifier for each parameter, used for matching, is taken from the elementId attribute. The name attribute is a descriptive label for the parameter.

The confusion arises as each binding parameter (an instance of MParameter) also have an elementId, but it is the name attribute that is used for matching against the command parameters. The binding parameter's elementId merely serves to identify that parameter instance within the model.

For example, consider defining a command to perform a CSS theme switch, where the theme identifier is provided as a command parameter themeId. We might configure the command (programmatically) as follows:

UI

What's the difference between the xmi:id and elementId?

The xmi:id are unique identifiers are internal to EMF and used for resolving model-level references between objects, similar to a memory reference. The elementIds are Eclipse 4 identifiers and serve to provide a well-known name to an object. '

Unlike EMF's xmi:id identifiers, which are expected by EMF to be unique, Eclipse 4's elementIds do not necessarily have to be unique. For example, it may make sense for every part stack containing editors to have elementId editor-stack (though we might instead recommend using a tag). Some elementIds are expected to be unique for particular uses. For example, an MCommands elementId serves as the unique command identifier.

How do I enable Drag N Drop (DND) of parts?

The DND addon is found in the org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.addons.swt plugin. However it requires the compatibility layer and is not available for native E4AP applications.

Why are my CSS theming not taking effect?

Assuming that you are using the CSS theming through the 'org.eclipse.e4.ui.css.swt.theme extension point:

Ensure the org.eclipse.e4.ui.css.swt.theme bundle is included with its prereqs

Verify that a plugin.xml defines one or more themes on the org.eclipse.e4.ui.css.swt.theme extension point

Verify that your product specifies a "cssTheme" property, or is passed "-cssTheme" on the command-line, with a valid theme-id

A common symptom: your switch-theme handler cannot be injected as IThemeEngine could not be resolved

Verify that your CSS files have no errors: add a breakpoint to org.eclipse.e4.ui.css.core.exceptions.UnsupportedClassCSSPropertyException, org.eclipse.e4.ui.css.core.exceptions.DOMExceptionImpl, and org.w3c.css.sac.CSSException